Fate of Navy Seal unknown

Nancy Flake

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, July 1, 2005

The young man, a 1994 graduate of a local county high school, has been serving in Afghanistan and is believed to have been with a small reconnaissance unit engaged in a firefight four days ago in the Kunar province along the Afghan-Pakistan border, a Houston news station reported Thursday.

The forces were participating in Operation Enduring Freedom, according to military sources.

Four MH-47 helicopters, known as a "Chinook," flew to the area to provide support for the unit, including members of the U.S. military special forces, military sources said Friday. One of the helicopters was shot down by what is believed to be a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 aboard, including several Navy SEALs.

The bodies have all been recovered and their families notified, military sources have reported.

When U.S. forces arrived at the site of the crash, the reconnaissance team was not there, according to military sources, and there was no sign of blood or immediate combat.

U.S. special operations forces are highly trained in evasion, and military officials said the missing team members may be staying out of sight and off their radios until they can make their way to safety.

The local man may have been the one to make the call asking for support for the reconnaissance unit, according to a former neighbor and friend of the family.

Eileen Morgan, a resident of the Corinthian Point subdivision off Lake Conroe, said she was told by another family friend that the young man served as the "spotter" for the reconnaissance unit and made the call for backup on the ground.

She remembers the man and his brother, also a Navy SEAL, as always having many friends over at their house. "There'd be cars up and down the street, and they'd have the flag hanging," she said. "Everyone had a story about" the two brothers.

Neighbors have held a prayer group for the family and the young man, she said.

Another local resident who knew the brothers in high school said they were both happy and outgoing young men.

Stephanie McBride, who graduated in 1993, described the man as a "sweetheart."

"He was a nice guy," she said. "You couldn't separate those two. Wherever you saw one, you saw the other. They had that special bond twins have.

"They were neat to know."

The family has not returned phone calls to The Courier asking for comment on their son.